for strawberries I strongly prefer Honeoye June bearing. I buy certified virus free plants and they all grow. I plant them in the early spring and remove any berry buds that might show the first year. The plants are kept very weed free and allowed to multiply. In the second year the strawberries come on great. Honeoye freeze very well. Out of 100 plants I expect to get over 500 quarts of strawberries in a few weeks. I freeze most of the whole. I chop them lose from each other when I want to use them. They will stay in tip top shape for years in the freezer with no work to freeze them whole. Except I like a vary large 5 gallon bags of thick food grade plastic bags. You better have lots of room in the freezer. I hate ever bearing strawberries because the total crop is tiny compared to June bearing types. Also the berries on ever bearing are not as good tasting and are small. Waste of time and effort to grow everbearing in my opinion. Here is a link that might be useful: Where I get virus free strawberries the best

Does it just take a few days for them to realize their planted, and in soil now or something? ==>>> since you are excited and a newbie.. i will explain ... i will yell this part ... THEY CAN NOT 'REALIZE' ANYTHING ... and when you wrap your head around that part.. you will be on your way to understanding plant dynamics ... when you ripped apart the bunch.. out of the pot ... you interfered with the roots ability to move water thru the plant ... a plant full of water stands erect due to turgidity .. or the water pressure in the tissue .... upon planting.. it lost such.. and flopped ... and that is not all that uncommon ... depending on weather.. heat.. sun .. it takes a few days.. for the roots to get established.. and start pumping water.. to re-establish the lost pressure ... sometimes the plant stands right back up.. other times. those leaves remain on the ground.. but the new leaves come out upright and proper ... and at that point they are on their way to becoming fully established ... but the most important thing you need to understand.. is WATER MANAGEMENT ... and drowning things.. is NOT better ... you have to water deeply.. and then let things NEAR DRY before watering deeply again .. you have to provide water thru the whole root zone .... and this is all solved by inserting your index finger.. to the second knuckle.. and testing.. your soil .... in your yard ... its not really about guessing.. i like to think that a real gardener doesnt really have a green thumb.. but a brown finger.. its all in how you provide water.. and if you master water issues.. you are 95% of the way to success ... make any sense?? ken

i am very happy with the berry plants i have gotten from Nourse (MA), Indiana berry and Krohne's (MI). When reselling plants do know if they are patent protected it is illegal for you resell them. You need to get a license from the breeder/patent holder of that variety to sell them. Chances are you will not get caught but if you do the fines will be over $10K. So be sure to avoid buying plats that have pvp next to their name in the catalogs. And i have noticed that there are few heritage/heirloom varieties sold in the catalogues. I believe I will be selling bare rooted raspberry plants this spring as we need to dig up hundreds of them to keep them in check. We sell them in bundles of 5 for $5 a bundle, they sell fast.

Ok, I think I'm going to be fine with them. I did call Palatine because our weather is making things difficult. It rained yesterday so I was afraid the ground was going to be too wet to plant, but I left it all day and the sun was shining and I went out there a little while ago and tested it and it seems dry enough. I did start soaking them this morning at 10am, and they're still sitting in water, but I asked if I could take them out of the water and just put them back in the plastic and hold them until tomorrow and plant and they said yes. Which is what I am going to do. They also said it's also a good idea to put them in the refrigerator, as Pickering used to direct me to do. She said the reason they don't suggest it, is because most people can't really fit them in their fridge. I have the room and I may do that tonight. Our forecast also calls for rain tomorrow late and again on Monday, so I really have to hit the right moment to plant. [g] She said if the weather really interferes that much I can take the whole bundle of 3 roses that are tied together and put them in a large pot and cover them over with soil up over the roots and the grafted bud union and water them in and hold them that way while waiting to plant. Thanks for sharing your experiences, it's always good to hear that people have had good results doing them several different ways.